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  #COVID-19  #Statistics #CDC  #Coronavirus Despite the clear opposition to masks within the Trump White House and among its allies, Americans of all political stripes overwhelmingly support their use as a public health measure and say they wear them whenever they’re in public. Still, there are significant differences in mask-use rates at the state level. And data from Carnegie Mellon’s CovidCast, an academic project tracking real-time coronavirus statistics, yields a particularly vivid illustration of how mask usage influences the prevalence of covid-19 symptoms in a given area. Take a look. For all 50 states plus D.C., this chart plots the percentage of state residents who say they wear a mask in public all or most of the time (on the horizontal axis) and the percentage who say they know someone in their community with virus symptoms (on the vertical axis). If you’re curious about the exact numbers for your state, there’s a table at the bottom of this article. Take Wyoming and South

  As influenza season approaches, some Americans, and especially parents, are worried that, if they or their children should become ill, it may not be easy to know which disease they have — the flu or Covid-19. They are correct. Most symptoms of the two diseases are so similar that, short of a test — or two or three tests — it won’t be possible to know for sure. But there are some clues. (And it is possible to have both infections at the same time; some patients in China this year were found to have both.) But first: get a flu shot. It is not yet clear whether the United States will have much of a flu season this year. Flu activity in the Southern Hemisphere, which is often predictive of activity in the United States, was 99 percent below normal during its winter. Epidemiologists believe that is because Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Chileans and other residents of the southern half of the globe were wearing masks, staying several feet apart and washing their hands to pre

#China  #Coronavirus #Outbreak #Quarantine #Pandemic #Wuhan At an emergency meeting in Beijing held last Friday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke about the need to contain the coronavirus and set up a system to prevent similar epidemics in the future. A national system to control biosecurity risks must be put in place “to protect the people’s health,” Xi said, because lab safety is a “national security” issue. Xi didn’t actually admit that the coronavirus now devastating large swaths of China had escaped from one of the country’s bioresearch labs. But the very next day, evidence emerged suggesting that this is exactly what happened, as the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology released a new directive titled: “Instructions on strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus.” Read that again. It sure sounds like China has a problem keeping dangerous pathogens in test tubes where they belong, doesn’t

#California #Coronavirus #Outbreak #Vaccine An American biotech company says it created a coronavirus vaccine three hours after getting access to the virus' genetic sequence on Jan. 9, and now scientists are racing to get the vaccine on the market in record time. Inovio Pharmaceuticals is based in Pennsylvania, but scientists in its laboratory in San Diego made the discovery. "We have an algorithm which we designed, and we put the DNA sequence into our algorithm and came up with the vaccine in that short amount of time," Inovio's research and development director Dr. Trevor Smith told KVUE. China has reported 254 new daily deaths and a spike in new daily virus cases of 15,152, after new methodology was applied in the hardest-hit province of Hubei as to how cases are categorized. Inovio's vaccine for COVID-19, as health officials have named the virus, could be ready as early as this summer. Inovio's stock jumped to $5.32 a share a few days aft

#InfectiousDisease, #Animals, #Pets, #Coronavirus, #Outbreak,  GUELPH, Ont.—Merlin seems remarkably unfazed by the masked, gloved, protective-suited humans assertively handling him. Then again, the Labrador retriever has already survived pretend-Ebola. So contracting pretend-novel-coronavirus for the purposes of this simulation is a walk in the park. Scott Weese, Merlin’s owner and director of the Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses at the University of Guelph, and Marlowe Schott, an infection control practitioner, carefully don layers of protective equipment and then even more carefully strip them all off. They are alert for ways a dog who actually did have novel coronavirus might expose them — like by panting on their faces. Merlin, who stays calm and obedient in the cramped isolation room, gets a treat. Final diagnosis: very good boy. Public health officials worldwide are scrambling to contain the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus, which has in

#China  #Coronavirus #Outbreak  #SARS #WashYourHands 阅读简体中文版 閱讀繁體中文版 Americans are watching with alarm as a new  coronavirus spreads in China  and  cases pop up in the United States . They are barraged with information about what kinds of masks are best to prevent viral spread. Students are  handing out masks  in Seattle. Masks  have run out  in Brazos County, Tex. Hang on. I’ve worked as an emergency room physician. And as a New York Times correspondent in China, I covered the  SARS outbreak  in 2002 and 2003 during which a novel coronavirus first detected in Guangdong sickened more than 8,000 people and killed more than 800. My two children attended elementary school in Beijing throughout the outbreak. Here are my main takeaways from that experience for ordinary people on the ground: 1. Wash your hands frequently. 2. Don’t go to the office when you are sick. Don’t send your kids to school or day care when they are ill, either. Notice I didn’t say anything

#China  #Coronavirus #Outbreak #Quarantine #Wuhan #Airlines #Handwashing Forget face masks and rubber gloves. The best way to avoid the coronavirus is frequent hand washing, according to a medical adviser to the world’s airlines. The virus can’t survive long on seats or armrests, so physical contact with another person carries the greatest risk of infection on a flight, said David Powell, a physician and medical adviser to the  International Air Transport Association . Masks and gloves do a better job of spreading bugs than stopping them, he said. As concern mounts about the scale of the outbreak, carriers from  United Airlines Holdings Inc.  to  Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.  have  scrapped  thousands of flights to China. Here is an edited transcript from an interview with Powell.  IATA  represents about  290 airlines  and more than 80% of global air traffic. Q: Is there a risk of becoming contaminated with the virus on a plane? A: The risk of

#China  #Coronavirus #Outbreak #Quarantine #Wuhan  #SARS #Epidemic  By James Griffiths, CNN The number of Wuhan coronavirus deaths in mainland China has overtaken the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in the country, as  Beijing injected billions of dollars  into an economy hit by weeks of effective shutdowns to major cities. More than  360 people have died  of the disease in China, the country's health authorities said Monday. The total number of cases in mainland China stood at 17,205 as of Sunday evening, an increase of over 2,800 on the previous day, or almost 20%. The 2003 outbreak of SARS -- another coronavirus strand -- infected 5,327 people in mainland China, with 349 deaths. The first death from the virus outside China  was confirmed over the weekend . Philippine health officials said that a 44-year-old Chinese man died Saturday after flying into the country from Wuhan. So far, more than 175 cases have been reported outside